help picking car to go to school in

you are still forgetting the fact that jeeps break...alot.

i HATE how GC's ride, very squishy and handle awful

explorers on the other hand ride more solidly, but they too break alot.

if it HAS to be an SUV and you want it to be as economical AND reliable as possible then the logical answer is look to japan. a mid 90's 4-runner or pathfinder is where its at. they were available with 5-speeds too.

take it from someone who spent a year turning wrenches on toyotas...they really are the way to go.

The Yota and Pathfinder will be a good bit more $$ though. I can say from our Blazer and other friends, they are great trucks. The 4.3 Vortec motors run great, make good power for the size of truck, and they dont seem to be as prone to issues as the Explorer and Jeep.

If your dad is going to buy it, and then not pay for maintenance and gas, buy the most reliable one you can!

25thmustang said:

The Yota and Pathfinder will be a good bit more $$ though. I can say from our Blazer and other friends, they are great trucks. The 4.3 Vortec motors run great, make good power for the size of truck, and they dont seem to be as prone to issues as the Explorer and Jeep.

If your dad is going to buy it, and then not pay for maintenance and gas, buy the most reliable one you can!

Click to expand...

a clean 95-99-ish 4Runner that is hovering in the neighborhood of 100k miles can be had for 10k-ish. its worth shopping around and/or paying a little bit more for the reliability

blazers eat ball joints like theres no tomorrow...i worked on chevys about 5 years ago...

I had a 96 Grand Cherokee Limited and the thing was super comfortable, and decently quick with the 5.3! It wasn't the greatest on gas though, right around 19 MPG.

what about an explorer with a 5.0?

You want reliable and great gas mileage? Nothing beats an older jetta diesel (not sure on newer mexican made stuff). The engine will run forever and gives superb gas mileage. I've had hondas, acuras, jettas in the family. Hands down the jetta for low maintenance costs and overall reliability. We still have a 1998 jetta we've owned since new, 2.0l gas engine though, and all we've ever spent money on was routine oil changes, two rear shocks (we like to load the trunk with supplies), spark plugs and brake work. That's it!

if you considering a crown vic you could prolly find on at a police car auction somewhere.

if your lucky you can keep that window foglight and the pushbumber.
then people will move.

explorers trash tranny's like crazy for some reason. At least the early-mid 90's ones did. I have a friend who used to have a 95 s10 blazer 4x4 and he ended up selling it for $1300...they book around $1900, so they don't hold their value. They seem to trash bushings too. I've seen a lot of s10 blazers and s10 trucks driving around squeeking because of bad bushings...my friends did. May not be that big of a deal.

My 94 Jeep Grand Cherokee was valued around $3900 last year when it got totaled. It only dropped $2000 in value for the 3 1/2 years that I owned it...not bad in my opinion. My jeep ate 02 sensors, I had problems with it cutting out w/ less than 1/4 tank of gas, but those may have been just issues I experienced and may not be common. On the plus side, yes, the 5.2L is pretty quick for a 3700 lb jeep.

I thought about getting a newer grand cherokee, but I wanted a truck. I love my truck

what about a WRX? you can get a used one for around 10k

If you have to get an SUV, how about a Toyota RAV4?
Theyre good on gas and Toyota's last forever.

Ford Escapes/Mazda Tributes dont seem to be too bad either. My aunt is on her second Tribute. She just trades them in when the mileage gets higher.

what about this? awd WRX...i know id like having one!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2003...0QQihZ001QQcategoryZ31868QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

thats alot of mileage on an 03, plus if his dad wont let him have a small car for safety or whatever the reason is, the wrx is out too

my vote still goes to the toyota 4runner...its worth paying a little extra for the toyota quality, and you can find them in 5-speed!

My brother works for the DEA, they're buying him a new car, he can sell the 04 squad he's got for $10k. He tried to sell it to me, I just don't need it. Silver, black windows, easy to clean inside, drive however you want (I've seen this firsthand), good car!